‘Hold on, man:’ DUI suspect chugs beers during stop

The blotter is derived from recent incident reports and central dispatch records of local police agencies.

Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office

Nov. 22

Two women were arrested following a fight at a Bloomingdale apartment. According to multiple witnesses, the women were “going at it pretty hard” for what turned out to be “a wild thirty minutes.” A reporting deputy notes that statements from the suspects were “unobtainable due to (their) levels of intoxication.”

Rogersville Police Department

Nov. 23

Officers responded to an apartment complex on a report of a man “smashing things in the parking lot.” A suspect was found outside with bloodshot eyes and unsteady on his feet. He also admitted to drinking five mixed drinks and half a jar of moonshine. The windshield on his car was shattered and a rear window broken out. After stating that he had caused the damage, he was arrested for public intoxication.

Nov. 24

A man called police after finding hollowed out hotdogs on his property, with what he believes to be rat poison shoved inside the casings. He suspected someone was trying to kill his cats.

Kingsport Police Department

Nov. 23

An officer responded to a restaurant on a complaint of an employee’s estranged husband harassing her over the phone. While police were on scene, the suspect called the business again, and the officer got on the line and told him to quit. The caller responded with an expletive-laced tirade, threatening the officer on two occasions with a “bullet in your head.” A warrant was obtained for retaliation for past actions, and police later took the man into custody at his home. While being placed in a squad car he spit on officers, netting additional charges of simple assault on law enforcement.

Nov. 24

When a man learned his adult daughter-in-law, who was visiting from out-of-town, was in bed with her boyfriend he burst into the room to “confront them about sleeping together in his house.” During the incident, he wielded a gun and threatened to shoot, spurring his arrest for aggravated assault.

A city police officer stopped on East Stone Drive to assist a constable, finding a man locked in his car and “chugging a Steel Reserve beer.” The driver, who the constable said had been speeding, refused to exit and became increasingly belligerent — downing three additional beers in the process. A decision was made to break a window and remove the suspect. But when the glass shattered, according to police, “He said ‘hold on, man’ and nonchalantly acted as if he was going to grab another beer.” After fighting officers, he was Tasered and arrested. Several charges were placed, including DUI and resisting arrest.

Nov. 25

A city man told police that a neighbor stole his handgun. But due to the alleged victim being belligerent, “extremely intoxicated” and urinating on himself, officers told him to call back when he sobered up. They departed, but shortly thereafter the man dialed dispatch again. Police responded to find him passed out near an open door with his pants down. On the second visit, he was arrested for public intoxication and aggravated assault. The latter was spurred by questioning of his neighbor, which revealed he had waved a gun their way and threatened to shoot. That’s when they grabbed the firearm from him and threw it into a nearby wooded area, where police recovered it.